Esteuao Pereira

Esteuao Pereira (1665-1733) was the Portuguese Empire's ambassador to the Maratha Confederacy.

Biography
Born to a Portuguese Jewish family in Almeida, Portugal, Pereira's family moved to Portuguese India for business opportunities with the spice trade. Pereira gained an understanding of the Hindi, Sinhalese, English, and Arabic language so that he could speak with the natives, and pleased with the man's work, Governor Luis Carvalho promoted Pereira to Ambassador.

Pereira met with the Mughal Empire sultan Aurangzeb I and arranged a trade agreement, and kept indifferent relations towards the Marathas, from whose empire the Portuguese in Goa were an enclave. When the Marathas captured Goa in winter 1702 war broke out, and in summer 1703 Pereira was on the case of ending it. He succeeded in obtaining 1,800 rupees and the plug bayonet technology in exchange for a peace treaty.